1 \input texinfo @c -*-texinfo-*-
4 @settitle Message Manual
9 This file documents Message, the Emacs message composition mode.
11 Copyright (C) 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004,
12 2005 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
15 Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document
16 under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2 or
17 any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with no
18 Invariant Sections, with the Front-Cover texts being ``A GNU
19 Manual'', and with the Back-Cover Texts as in (a) below. A copy of the
20 license is included in the section entitled ``GNU Free Documentation
21 License'' in the Emacs manual.
23 (a) The FSF's Back-Cover Text is: ``You have freedom to copy and modify
24 this GNU Manual, like GNU software. Copies published by the Free
25 Software Foundation raise funds for GNU development.''
27 This document is part of a collection distributed under the GNU Free
28 Documentation License. If you want to distribute this document
29 separately from the collection, you can do so by adding a copy of the
30 license to the document, as described in section 6 of the license.
36 * Message: (message). Mail and news composition mode that goes with Gnus.
41 @setchapternewpage odd
46 @author by Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen
49 @vskip 0pt plus 1filll
57 All message composition from Gnus (both mail and news) takes place in
61 * Interface:: Setting up message buffers.
62 * Commands:: Commands you can execute in message mode buffers.
63 * Variables:: Customizing the message buffers.
64 * Compatibility:: Making Message backwards compatible.
65 * Appendices:: More technical things.
66 * Index:: Variable, function and concept index.
67 * Key Index:: List of Message mode keys.
70 This manual corresponds to Message v5.10.6. Message is distributed
71 with the Gnus distribution bearing the same version number as this
78 When a program (or a person) wants to respond to a message---reply,
79 follow up, forward, cancel---the program (or person) should just put
80 point in the buffer where the message is and call the required command.
81 @code{Message} will then pop up a new @code{message} mode buffer with
82 appropriate headers filled out, and the user can edit the message before
86 * New Mail Message:: Editing a brand new mail message.
87 * New News Message:: Editing a brand new news message.
88 * Reply:: Replying via mail.
89 * Wide Reply:: Responding to all people via mail.
90 * Followup:: Following up via news.
91 * Canceling News:: Canceling a news article.
92 * Superseding:: Superseding a message.
93 * Forwarding:: Forwarding a message via news or mail.
94 * Resending:: Resending a mail message.
95 * Bouncing:: Bouncing a mail message.
96 * Mailing Lists:: Send mail to mailing lists.
100 @node New Mail Message
101 @section New Mail Message
104 The @code{message-mail} command pops up a new message buffer.
106 Two optional parameters are accepted: The first will be used as the
107 @code{To} header and the second as the @code{Subject} header. If these
108 are @code{nil}, those two headers will be empty.
111 @node New News Message
112 @section New News Message
115 The @code{message-news} command pops up a new message buffer.
117 This function accepts two optional parameters. The first will be used
118 as the @code{Newsgroups} header and the second as the @code{Subject}
119 header. If these are @code{nil}, those two headers will be empty.
125 @findex message-reply
126 The @code{message-reply} function pops up a message buffer that's a
127 reply to the message in the current buffer.
129 @vindex message-reply-to-function
130 Message uses the normal methods to determine where replies are to go
131 (@pxref{Responses}), but you can change the behavior to suit your needs
132 by fiddling with the @code{message-reply-to-function} variable.
134 If you want the replies to go to the @code{Sender} instead of the
135 @code{From}, you could do something like this:
138 (setq message-reply-to-function
140 (cond ((equal (mail-fetch-field "from") "somebody")
141 (list (cons 'To (mail-fetch-field "sender"))))
146 This function will be called narrowed to the head of the article that is
149 As you can see, this function should return a list. In this case, it
150 returns @code{((To . "Whom"))} if it has an opinion as to what the To
151 header should be. If it does not, it should just return @code{nil}, and
152 the normal methods for determining the To header will be used.
154 Each list element should be a cons, where the @sc{car} should be the
155 name of a header (e.g. @code{Cc}) and the @sc{cdr} should be the header
156 value (e.g. @samp{larsi@@ifi.uio.no}). All these headers will be
157 inserted into the head of the outgoing mail.
163 @findex message-wide-reply
164 The @code{message-wide-reply} pops up a message buffer that's a wide
165 reply to the message in the current buffer. A @dfn{wide reply} is a
166 reply that goes out to all people listed in the @code{To}, @code{From}
167 (or @code{Reply-to}) and @code{Cc} headers.
169 @vindex message-wide-reply-to-function
170 Message uses the normal methods to determine where wide replies are to go,
171 but you can change the behavior to suit your needs by fiddling with the
172 @code{message-wide-reply-to-function}. It is used in the same way as
173 @code{message-reply-to-function} (@pxref{Reply}).
175 @vindex message-dont-reply-to-names
176 Addresses that match the @code{message-dont-reply-to-names} regular
177 expression will be removed from the @code{Cc} header.
179 @vindex message-wide-reply-confirm-recipients
180 If @code{message-wide-reply-confirm-recipients} is non-@code{nil} you
181 will be asked to confirm that you want to reply to multiple
182 recipients. The default is @code{nil}.
187 @findex message-followup
188 The @code{message-followup} command pops up a message buffer that's a
189 followup to the message in the current buffer.
191 @vindex message-followup-to-function
192 Message uses the normal methods to determine where followups are to go,
193 but you can change the behavior to suit your needs by fiddling with the
194 @code{message-followup-to-function}. It is used in the same way as
195 @code{message-reply-to-function} (@pxref{Reply}).
197 @vindex message-use-followup-to
198 The @code{message-use-followup-to} variable says what to do about
199 @code{Followup-To} headers. If it is @code{use}, always use the value.
200 If it is @code{ask} (which is the default), ask whether to use the
201 value. If it is @code{t}, use the value unless it is @samp{poster}. If
202 it is @code{nil}, don't use the value.
206 @section Canceling News
208 @findex message-cancel-news
209 The @code{message-cancel-news} command cancels the article in the
212 @vindex message-cancel-message
213 The value of @code{message-cancel-message} is inserted in the body of
214 the cancel message. The default is @samp{I am canceling my own
218 @vindex message-insert-canlock
220 When Message posts news messages, it inserts @code{Cancel-Lock}
221 headers by default. This is a cryptographic header that ensures that
222 only you can cancel your own messages, which is nice. The downside
223 is that if you lose your @file{.emacs} file (which is where Gnus
224 stores the secret cancel lock password (which is generated
225 automatically the first time you use this feature)), you won't be
226 able to cancel your message. If you want to manage a password yourself,
227 you can put something like the following in your @file{~/.gnus.el} file:
230 (setq canlock-password "geheimnis"
231 canlock-password-for-verify canlock-password)
234 Whether to insert the header or not is controlled by the
235 @code{message-insert-canlock} variable.
237 Not many news servers respect the @code{Cancel-Lock} header yet, but
238 this is expected to change in the future.
244 @findex message-supersede
245 The @code{message-supersede} command pops up a message buffer that will
246 supersede the message in the current buffer.
248 @vindex message-ignored-supersedes-headers
249 Headers matching the @code{message-ignored-supersedes-headers} are
250 removed before popping up the new message buffer. The default is@*
251 @samp{^Path:\\|^Date\\|^NNTP-Posting-Host:\\|^Xref:\\|^Lines:\\|@*
252 ^Received:\\|^X-From-Line:\\|Return-Path:\\|^Supersedes:}.
259 @findex message-forward
260 The @code{message-forward} command pops up a message buffer to forward
261 the message in the current buffer. If given a prefix, forward using
265 @item message-forward-ignored-headers
266 @vindex message-forward-ignored-headers
267 All headers that match this regexp will be deleted when forwarding a message.
269 @item message-make-forward-subject-function
270 @vindex message-make-forward-subject-function
271 A list of functions that are called to generate a subject header for
272 forwarded messages. The subject generated by the previous function is
273 passed into each successive function.
275 The provided functions are:
278 @item message-forward-subject-author-subject
279 @findex message-forward-subject-author-subject
280 Source of article (author or newsgroup), in brackets followed by the
283 @item message-forward-subject-fwd
284 Subject of article with @samp{Fwd:} prepended to it.
287 @item message-wash-forwarded-subjects
288 @vindex message-wash-forwarded-subjects
289 If this variable is @code{t}, the subjects of forwarded messages have
290 the evidence of previous forwards (such as @samp{Fwd:}, @samp{Re:},
291 @samp{(fwd)}) removed before the new subject is
292 constructed. The default value is @code{nil}.
294 @item message-forward-as-mime
295 @vindex message-forward-as-mime
296 If this variable is @code{t} (the default), forwarded messages are
297 included as inline @acronym{MIME} RFC822 parts. If it's @code{nil}, forwarded
298 messages will just be copied inline to the new message, like previous,
299 non @acronym{MIME}-savvy versions of Gnus would do.
301 @item message-forward-before-signature
302 @vindex message-forward-before-signature
303 If non-@code{nil}, put forwarded message before signature, else after.
311 @findex message-resend
312 The @code{message-resend} command will prompt the user for an address
313 and resend the message in the current buffer to that address.
315 @vindex message-ignored-resent-headers
316 Headers that match the @code{message-ignored-resent-headers} regexp will
317 be removed before sending the message.
323 @findex message-bounce
324 The @code{message-bounce} command will, if the current buffer contains a
325 bounced mail message, pop up a message buffer stripped of the bounce
326 information. A @dfn{bounced message} is typically a mail you've sent
327 out that has been returned by some @code{mailer-daemon} as
330 @vindex message-ignored-bounced-headers
331 Headers that match the @code{message-ignored-bounced-headers} regexp
332 will be removed before popping up the buffer. The default is
333 @samp{^\\(Received\\|Return-Path\\):}.
337 @section Mailing Lists
339 @cindex Mail-Followup-To
340 Sometimes while posting to mailing lists, the poster needs to direct
341 followups to the post to specific places. The Mail-Followup-To (MFT)
342 was created to enable just this. Three example scenarios where this is
347 A mailing list poster can use MFT to express that responses should be
348 sent to just the list, and not the poster as well. This will happen
349 if the poster is already subscribed to the list.
352 A mailing list poster can use MFT to express that responses should be
353 sent to the list and the poster as well. This will happen if the poster
354 is not subscribed to the list.
357 If a message is posted to several mailing lists, MFT may also be used
358 to direct the following discussion to one list only, because
359 discussions that are spread over several lists tend to be fragmented
360 and very difficult to follow.
364 Gnus honors the MFT header in other's messages (i.e. while following
365 up to someone else's post) and also provides support for generating
366 sensible MFT headers for outgoing messages as well.
369 @c * Honoring an MFT post:: What to do when one already exists
370 @c * Composing with a MFT header:: Creating one from scratch.
373 @c @node Composing with a MFT header
374 @subsection Composing a correct MFT header automagically
376 The first step in getting Gnus to automagically generate a MFT header
377 in posts you make is to give Gnus a list of the mailing lists
378 addresses you are subscribed to. You can do this in more than one
379 way. The following variables would come in handy.
383 @vindex message-subscribed-addresses
384 @item message-subscribed-addresses
385 This should be a list of addresses the user is subscribed to. Its
386 default value is @code{nil}. Example:
388 (setq message-subscribed-addresses
389 '("ding@@gnus.org" "bing@@noose.org"))
392 @vindex message-subscribed-regexps
393 @item message-subscribed-regexps
394 This should be a list of regexps denoting the addresses of mailing
395 lists subscribed to. Default value is @code{nil}. Example: If you
396 want to achieve the same result as above:
398 (setq message-subscribed-regexps
399 '("\\(ding@@gnus\\)\\|\\(bing@@noose\\)\\.org")
402 @vindex message-subscribed-address-functions
403 @item message-subscribed-address-functions
404 This can be a list of functions to be called (one at a time!!) to
405 determine the value of MFT headers. It is advisable that these
406 functions not take any arguments. Default value is @code{nil}.
408 There is a pre-defined function in Gnus that is a good candidate for
409 this variable. @code{gnus-find-subscribed-addresses} is a function
410 that returns a list of addresses corresponding to the groups that have
411 the @code{subscribed} (@pxref{Group Parameters, ,Group Parameters,
412 gnus, The Gnus Manual}) group parameter set to a non-@code{nil} value.
413 This is how you would do it.
416 (setq message-subscribed-address-functions
417 '(gnus-find-subscribed-addresses))
420 @vindex message-subscribed-address-file
421 @item message-subscribed-address-file
422 You might be one organized human freak and have a list of addresses of
423 all subscribed mailing lists in a separate file! Then you can just
424 set this variable to the name of the file and life would be good.
428 You can use one or more of the above variables. All their values are
429 ``added'' in some way that works :-)
431 Now you are all set. Just start composing a message as you normally do.
432 And just send it; as always. Just before the message is sent out, Gnus'
433 MFT generation thingy kicks in and checks if the message already has a
434 MFT field. If there is one, it is left alone. (Except if it's empty -
435 in that case, the field is removed and is not replaced with an
436 automatically generated one. This lets you disable MFT generation on a
437 per-message basis.) If there is none, then the list of recipient
438 addresses (in the To: and Cc: headers) is checked to see if one of them
439 is a list address you are subscribed to. If none of them is a list
440 address, then no MFT is generated; otherwise, a MFT is added to the
441 other headers and set to the value of all addresses in To: and Cc:
444 @findex message-generate-unsubscribed-mail-followup-to
446 @findex message-goto-mail-followup-to
447 Hm. ``So'', you ask, ``what if I send an email to a list I am not
448 subscribed to? I want my MFT to say that I want an extra copy.'' (This
449 is supposed to be interpreted by others the same way as if there were no
450 MFT, but you can use an explicit MFT to override someone else's
451 to-address group parameter.) The function
452 @code{message-generate-unsubscribed-mail-followup-to} might come in
453 handy. It is bound to @kbd{C-c C-f C-a} by default. In any case, you
454 can insert a MFT of your own choice; @kbd{C-c C-f C-m}
455 (@code{message-goto-mail-followup-to}) will help you get started.
457 @c @node Honoring an MFT post
458 @subsection Honoring an MFT post
460 @vindex message-use-mail-followup-to
461 When you followup to a post on a mailing list, and the post has a MFT
462 header, Gnus' action will depend on the value of the variable
463 @code{message-use-mail-followup-to}. This variable can be one of:
467 Always honor MFTs. The To: and Cc: headers in your followup will be
468 derived from the MFT header of the original post. This is the default.
471 Always dishonor MFTs (just ignore the darned thing)
474 Gnus will prompt you for an action.
478 It is considered good netiquette to honor MFT, as it is assumed the
479 fellow who posted a message knows where the followups need to go
486 * Buffer Entry:: Commands after entering a Message buffer.
487 * Header Commands:: Commands for moving headers or changing headers.
488 * Movement:: Moving around in message buffers.
489 * Insertion:: Inserting things into message buffers.
490 * MIME:: @acronym{MIME} considerations.
491 * IDNA:: Non-@acronym{ASCII} domain name considerations.
492 * Security:: Signing and encrypting messages.
493 * Various Commands:: Various things.
494 * Sending:: Actually sending the message.
495 * Mail Aliases:: How to use mail aliases.
496 * Spelling:: Having Emacs check your spelling.
501 @section Buffer Entry
505 You most often end up in a Message buffer when responding to some other
506 message of some sort. Message does lots of handling of quoted text, and
507 may remove signatures, reformat the text, or the like---depending on
508 which used settings you're using. Message usually gets things right,
509 but sometimes it stumbles. To help the user unwind these stumblings,
510 Message sets the undo boundary before each major automatic action it
511 takes. If you press the undo key (usually located at @kbd{C-_}) a few
512 times, you will get back the un-edited message you're responding to.
515 @node Header Commands
516 @section Header Commands
518 @subsection Commands for moving to headers
520 These following commands move to the header in question. If it doesn't
521 exist, it will be inserted.
527 @findex describe-mode
528 Describe the message mode.
532 @findex message-goto-to
533 Go to the @code{To} header (@code{message-goto-to}).
537 @findex message-goto-from
538 Go to the @code{From} header (@code{message-goto-from}). (The ``o''
539 in the key binding is for Originator.)
543 @findex message-goto-bcc
544 Go to the @code{Bcc} header (@code{message-goto-bcc}).
548 @findex message-goto-fcc
549 Go to the @code{Fcc} header (@code{message-goto-fcc}).
553 @findex message-goto-cc
554 Go to the @code{Cc} header (@code{message-goto-cc}).
558 @findex message-goto-subject
559 Go to the @code{Subject} header (@code{message-goto-subject}).
563 @findex message-goto-reply-to
564 Go to the @code{Reply-To} header (@code{message-goto-reply-to}).
568 @findex message-goto-newsgroups
569 Go to the @code{Newsgroups} header (@code{message-goto-newsgroups}).
573 @findex message-goto-distribution
574 Go to the @code{Distribution} header (@code{message-goto-distribution}).
578 @findex message-goto-followup-to
579 Go to the @code{Followup-To} header (@code{message-goto-followup-to}).
583 @findex message-goto-keywords
584 Go to the @code{Keywords} header (@code{message-goto-keywords}).
588 @findex message-goto-summary
589 Go to the @code{Summary} header (@code{message-goto-summary}).
593 @findex message-insert-or-toggle-importance
594 This inserts the @samp{Importance:} header with a value of
595 @samp{high}. This header is used to signal the importance of the
596 message to the receiver. If the header is already present in the
597 buffer, it cycles between the three valid values according to RFC
598 1376: @samp{low}, @samp{normal} and @samp{high}.
602 @findex message-generate-unsubscribed-mail-followup-to
603 Insert a reasonable @samp{Mail-Followup-To:} header
604 (@pxref{Mailing Lists}) in a post to an
605 unsubscribed list. When making original posts to a mailing list you are
606 not subscribed to, you have to type in a @samp{Mail-Followup-To:} header
607 by hand. The contents, usually, are the addresses of the list and your
608 own address. This function inserts such a header automatically. It
609 fetches the contents of the @samp{To:} header in the current mail
610 buffer, and appends the current @code{user-mail-address}.
612 If the optional argument @code{include-cc} is non-@code{nil}, the
613 addresses in the @samp{Cc:} header are also put into the
614 @samp{Mail-Followup-To:} header.
618 @subsection Commands to change headers
624 @findex message-sort-headers
625 @vindex message-header-format-alist
626 Sort headers according to @code{message-header-format-alist}
627 (@code{message-sort-headers}).
631 @findex message-insert-to
632 Insert a @code{To} header that contains the @code{Reply-To} or
633 @code{From} header of the message you're following up
634 (@code{message-insert-to}).
638 @findex message-insert-newsgroups
639 Insert a @code{Newsgroups} header that reflects the @code{Followup-To}
640 or @code{Newsgroups} header of the article you're replying to
641 (@code{message-insert-newsgroups}).
645 @findex message-to-list-only
646 Send a message to the list only. Remove all addresses but the list
647 address from @code{To:} and @code{Cc:} headers.
651 @findex message-insert-disposition-notification-to
652 Insert a request for a disposition
653 notification. (@code{message-insert-disposition-notification-to}).
654 This means that if the recipient support RFC 2298 she might send you a
655 notification that she received the message.
657 @item M-x message-insert-importance-high
658 @kindex M-x message-insert-importance-high
659 @findex message-insert-importance-high
661 Insert an @samp{Importance} header with a value of @samp{high},
662 deleting headers if necessary.
664 @item M-x message-insert-importance-low
665 @kindex M-x message-insert-importance-low
666 @findex message-insert-importance-low
668 Insert an @samp{Importance} header with a value of @samp{low}, deleting
669 headers if necessary.
673 @findex message-change-subject
675 Change the current @samp{Subject} header. Ask for new @samp{Subject}
676 header and append @samp{(was: <Old Subject>)}. The old subject can be
677 stripped on replying, see @code{message-subject-trailing-was-query}
678 (@pxref{Message Headers}).
682 @findex message-cross-post-followup-to
683 @vindex message-cross-post-default
684 @vindex message-cross-post-note-function
687 Set up the @samp{FollowUp-To} header with a target newsgroup for a
688 cross-post, add that target newsgroup to the @samp{Newsgroups} header if
689 it is not a member of @samp{Newsgroups}, and insert a note in the body.
690 If @code{message-cross-post-default} is @code{nil} or if this command is
691 called with a prefix-argument, only the @samp{FollowUp-To} header will
692 be set but the the target newsgroup will not be added to the
693 @samp{Newsgroups} header. The function to insert a note is controlled
694 by the @code{message-cross-post-note-function} variable.
698 @findex message-reduce-to-to-cc
699 Replace contents of @samp{To} header with contents of @samp{Cc} or
700 @samp{Bcc} header. (Iff @samp{Cc} header is not present, @samp{Bcc}
701 header will be used instead.)
705 @findex message-insert-wide-reply
706 Insert @samp{To} and @samp{Cc} headers as if you were doing a wide
707 reply even if the message was not made for a wide reply first.
711 @findex message-add-archive-header
712 @vindex message-archive-header
713 @vindex message-archive-note
715 Insert @samp{X-No-Archive: Yes} in the header and a note in the body.
716 The header and the note can be customized using
717 @code{message-archive-header} and @code{message-archive-note}. When
718 called with a prefix argument, ask for a text to insert. If you don't
719 want the note in the body, set @code{message-archive-note} to
731 @findex message-goto-body
732 Move to the beginning of the body of the message
733 (@code{message-goto-body}).
737 @findex message-goto-signature
738 Move to the signature of the message (@code{message-goto-signature}).
742 @findex message-beginning-of-line
743 @vindex message-beginning-of-line
744 If at beginning of header value, go to beginning of line, else go to
745 beginning of header value. (The header value comes after the header
746 name and the colon.) This behavior can be disabled by toggling
747 the variable @code{message-beginning-of-line}.
759 @findex message-yank-original
760 Yank the message that's being replied to into the message buffer
761 (@code{message-yank-original}).
765 @findex message-yank-buffer
766 Prompt for a buffer name and yank the contents of that buffer into the
767 message buffer (@code{message-yank-buffer}).
771 @findex message-fill-yanked-message
772 Fill the yanked message (@code{message-fill-yanked-message}). Warning:
773 Can severely mess up the yanked text if its quoting conventions are
774 strange. You'll quickly get a feel for when it's safe, though. Anyway,
775 just remember that @kbd{C-x u} (@code{undo}) is available and you'll be
780 @findex message-insert-signature
781 Insert a signature at the end of the buffer
782 (@code{message-insert-signature}).
786 @findex message-insert-headers
787 Insert the message headers (@code{message-insert-headers}).
791 @findex message-mark-inserted-region
792 Mark some region in the current article with enclosing tags. See
793 @code{message-mark-insert-begin} and @code{message-mark-insert-end}.
794 When called with a prefix argument, use slrn style verbatim marks
795 (@samp{#v+} and @samp{#v-}).
799 @findex message-mark-insert-file
800 Insert a file in the current article with enclosing tags.
801 See @code{message-mark-insert-begin} and @code{message-mark-insert-end}.
802 When called with a prefix argument, use slrn style verbatim marks
803 (@samp{#v+} and @samp{#v-}).
815 Message is a @acronym{MIME}-compliant posting agent. The user generally
816 doesn't have to do anything to make the @acronym{MIME} happen---Message will
817 automatically add the @code{Content-Type} and
818 @code{Content-Transfer-Encoding} headers.
820 The most typical thing users want to use the multipart things in
821 @acronym{MIME} for is to add ``attachments'' to mail they send out.
822 This can be done with the @kbd{C-c C-a} command, which will prompt for
823 a file name and a @acronym{MIME} type.
825 @vindex mml-dnd-protocol-alist
826 @vindex mml-dnd-attach-options
827 If your Emacs supports drag and drop, you can also drop the file in the
828 Message buffer. The variable @code{mml-dnd-protocol-alist} specifies
829 what kind of action is done when you drop a file into the Message
830 buffer. The variable @code{mml-dnd-attach-options} controls which
831 @acronym{MIME} options you want to specify when dropping a file. If it
832 is a list, valid members are @code{type}, @code{description} and
833 @code{disposition}. @code{disposition} implies @code{type}. If it is
834 @code{nil}, don't ask for options. If it is @code{t}, ask the user
835 whether or not to specify options.
837 You can also create arbitrarily complex multiparts using the @acronym{MML}
838 language (@pxref{Composing, , Composing, emacs-mime, The Emacs MIME
844 @cindex internationalized domain names
845 @cindex non-ascii domain names
847 Message is a @acronym{IDNA}-compliant posting agent. The user
848 generally doesn't have to do anything to make the @acronym{IDNA}
849 happen---Message will encode non-@acronym{ASCII} domain names in @code{From},
850 @code{To}, and @code{Cc} headers automatically.
852 Until @acronym{IDNA} becomes more well known, Message queries you
853 whether @acronym{IDNA} encoding of the domain name really should
854 occur. Some users might not be aware that domain names can contain
855 non-@acronym{ASCII} now, so this gives them a safety net if they accidently
856 typed a non-@acronym{ASCII} domain name.
858 @vindex message-use-idna
859 The @code{message-use-idna} variable control whether @acronym{IDNA} is
860 used. If the variable is @code{nil} no @acronym{IDNA} encoding will
861 ever happen, if it is set to the symbol @code{ask} the user will be
862 queried, and if set to @code{t} @acronym{IDNA} encoding happens
863 automatically (the default).
865 @findex message-idna-to-ascii-rhs
866 If you want to experiment with the @acronym{IDNA} encoding, you can
867 invoke @kbd{M-x message-idna-to-ascii-rhs RET} in the message buffer
868 to have the non-@acronym{ASCII} domain names encoded while you edit
871 Note that you must have @uref{http://www.gnu.org/software/libidn/, GNU
872 Libidn} installed in order to use this functionality.
884 Using the @acronym{MML} language, Message is able to create digitally
885 signed and digitally encrypted messages. Message (or rather
886 @acronym{MML}) currently support @acronym{PGP} (RFC 1991),
887 @acronym{PGP/MIME} (RFC 2015/3156) and @acronym{S/MIME}. Instructing
888 @acronym{MML} to perform security operations on a @acronym{MIME} part is
889 done using the @kbd{C-c C-m s} key map for signing and the @kbd{C-c C-m
890 c} key map for encryption, as follows.
896 @findex mml-secure-message-sign-smime
898 Digitally sign current message using @acronym{S/MIME}.
902 @findex mml-secure-message-sign-pgp
904 Digitally sign current message using @acronym{PGP}.
908 @findex mml-secure-message-sign-pgpmime
910 Digitally sign current message using @acronym{PGP/MIME}.
914 @findex mml-secure-message-encrypt-smime
916 Digitally encrypt current message using @acronym{S/MIME}.
920 @findex mml-secure-message-encrypt-pgp
922 Digitally encrypt current message using @acronym{PGP}.
926 @findex mml-secure-message-encrypt-pgpmime
928 Digitally encrypt current message using @acronym{PGP/MIME}.
932 @findex mml-unsecure-message
933 Remove security related @acronym{MML} tags from message.
937 These commands do not immediately sign or encrypt the message, they
938 merely insert the proper @acronym{MML} secure tag to instruct the
939 @acronym{MML} engine to perform that operation when the message is
940 actually sent. They may perform other operations too, such as locating
941 and retrieving a @acronym{S/MIME} certificate of the person you wish to
942 send encrypted mail to. When the mml parsing engine converts your
943 @acronym{MML} into a properly encoded @acronym{MIME} message, the secure
944 tag will be replaced with either a part or a multipart tag. If your
945 message contains other mml parts, a multipart tag will be used; if no
946 other parts are present in your message a single part tag will be used.
947 This way, message mode will do the Right Thing (TM) with
948 signed/encrypted multipart messages.
950 Since signing and especially encryption often is used when sensitive
951 information is sent, you may want to have some way to ensure that your
952 mail is actually signed or encrypted. After invoking the above
953 sign/encrypt commands, it is possible to preview the raw article by
954 using @kbd{C-u C-c RET P} (@code{mml-preview}). Then you can
955 verify that your long rant about what your ex-significant other or
956 whomever actually did with that funny looking person at that strange
957 party the other night, actually will be sent encrypted.
959 @emph{Note!} Neither @acronym{PGP/MIME} nor @acronym{S/MIME} encrypt/signs
960 RFC822 headers. They only operate on the @acronym{MIME} object. Keep this
961 in mind before sending mail with a sensitive Subject line.
963 By default, when encrypting a message, Gnus will use the
964 ``signencrypt'' mode, which means the message is both signed and
965 encrypted. If you would like to disable this for a particular
966 message, give the @code{mml-secure-message-encrypt-*} command a prefix
967 argument, e.g., @kbd{C-u C-c C-m c p}.
969 Actually using the security commands above is not very difficult. At
970 least not compared with making sure all involved programs talk with each
971 other properly. Thus, we now describe what external libraries or
972 programs are required to make things work, and some small general hints.
974 @subsection Using S/MIME
976 @emph{Note!} This section assume you have a basic familiarity with
977 modern cryptography, @acronym{S/MIME}, various PKCS standards, OpenSSL and
980 The @acronym{S/MIME} support in Message (and @acronym{MML}) require
981 OpenSSL. OpenSSL performs the actual @acronym{S/MIME} sign/encrypt
982 operations. OpenSSL can be found at @uref{http://www.openssl.org/}.
983 OpenSSL 0.9.6 and later should work. Version 0.9.5a cannot extract mail
984 addresses from certificates, and it insert a spurious CR character into
985 @acronym{MIME} separators so you may wish to avoid it if you would like
986 to avoid being regarded as someone who send strange mail. (Although by
987 sending @acronym{S/MIME} messages you've probably already lost that
990 To be able to send encrypted mail, a personal certificate is not
991 required. Message (@acronym{MML}) need a certificate for the person to whom you
992 wish to communicate with though. You're asked for this when you type
993 @kbd{C-c C-m c s}. Currently there are two ways to retrieve this
994 certificate, from a local file or from DNS. If you chose a local
995 file, it need to contain a X.509 certificate in @acronym{PEM} format.
996 If you chose DNS, you're asked for the domain name where the
997 certificate is stored, the default is a good guess. To my belief,
998 Message (@acronym{MML}) is the first mail agent in the world to support
999 retrieving @acronym{S/MIME} certificates from DNS, so you're not
1000 likely to find very many certificates out there. At least there
1001 should be one, stored at the domain @code{simon.josefsson.org}. LDAP
1002 is a more popular method of distributing certificates, support for it
1003 is planned. (Meanwhile, you can use @code{ldapsearch} from the
1004 command line to retrieve a certificate into a file and use it.)
1006 As for signing messages, OpenSSL can't perform signing operations
1007 without some kind of configuration. Especially, you need to tell it
1008 where your private key and your certificate is stored. @acronym{MML}
1009 uses an Emacs interface to OpenSSL, aptly named @code{smime.el}, and it
1010 contain a @code{custom} group used for this configuration. So, try
1011 @kbd{M-x customize-group RET smime RET} and look around.
1013 Currently there is no support for talking to a CA (or RA) to create
1014 your own certificate. None is planned either. You need to do this
1015 manually with OpenSSL or using some other program. I used Netscape
1016 and got a free @acronym{S/MIME} certificate from one of the big CA's on the
1017 net. Netscape is able to export your private key and certificate in
1018 PKCS #12 format. Use OpenSSL to convert this into a plain X.509
1019 certificate in PEM format as follows.
1022 $ openssl pkcs12 -in ns.p12 -clcerts -nodes > key+cert.pem
1025 The @file{key+cert.pem} file should be pointed to from the
1026 @code{smime-keys} variable. You should now be able to send signed mail.
1028 @emph{Note!} Your private key is now stored unencrypted in the file,
1029 so take care in handling it. Storing encrypted keys on the disk are
1030 supported, and Gnus will ask you for a passphrase before invoking
1031 OpenSSL. Read the OpenSSL documentation for how to achieve this. If
1032 you use unencrypted keys (e.g., if they are on a secure storage, or if
1033 you are on a secure single user machine) simply press @code{RET} at
1034 the passphrase prompt.
1036 @subsection Using PGP/MIME
1038 @acronym{PGP/MIME} requires an external OpenPGP implementation, such
1039 as @uref{http://www.gnupg.org/, GNU Privacy Guard}. Pre-OpenPGP
1040 implementations such as PGP 2.x and PGP 5.x are also supported. One
1041 Emacs interface to the PGP implementations, PGG (@pxref{Top, ,PGG,
1042 pgg, PGG Manual}), is included, but Mailcrypt and Florian Weimer's
1043 @code{gpg.el} are also supported.
1045 @vindex gpg-temp-directory
1046 Note, if you are using the @code{gpg.el} you must make sure that the
1047 directory specified by @code{gpg-temp-directory} have permissions
1050 Creating your own key is described in detail in the documentation of
1051 your PGP implementation, so we refer to it.
1053 If you have imported your old PGP 2.x key into GnuPG, and want to send
1054 signed and encrypted messages to your fellow PGP 2.x users, you'll
1055 discover that the receiver cannot understand what you send. One
1056 solution is to use PGP 2.x instead (i.e., if you use @code{pgg}, set
1057 @code{pgg-default-scheme} to @code{pgp}). If you do want to use
1058 GnuPG, you can use a compatibility script called @code{gpg-2comp}
1060 @uref{http://muppet.faveve.uni-stuttgart.de/~gero/gpg-2comp/}. You
1061 could also convince your fellow PGP 2.x users to convert to GnuPG.
1062 @vindex mml-signencrypt-style-alist
1063 As a final workaround, you can make the sign and encryption work in
1064 two steps; separately sign, then encrypt a message. If you would like
1065 to change this behavior you can customize the
1066 @code{mml-signencrypt-style-alist} variable. For example:
1069 (setq mml-signencrypt-style-alist '(("smime" separate)
1071 ("pgpauto" separate)
1072 ("pgpmime" separate)))
1075 This causes to sign and encrypt in two passes, thus generating a
1076 message that can be understood by PGP version 2.
1078 (Refer to @uref{http://www.gnupg.org/gph/en/pgp2x.html} for more
1079 information about the problem.)
1081 @node Various Commands
1082 @section Various Commands
1088 @findex message-caesar-buffer-body
1089 Caesar rotate (aka. rot13) the current message
1090 (@code{message-caesar-buffer-body}). If narrowing is in effect, just
1091 rotate the visible portion of the buffer. A numerical prefix says how
1092 many places to rotate the text. The default is 13.
1096 @findex message-elide-region
1097 @vindex message-elide-ellipsis
1098 Elide the text between point and mark (@code{message-elide-region}).
1099 The text is killed and replaced with the contents of the variable
1100 @code{message-elide-ellipsis}. The default value is to use an ellipsis
1105 @findex message-kill-address
1106 Kill the address under point.
1110 @findex message-kill-to-signature
1111 Kill all the text up to the signature, or if that's missing, up to the
1112 end of the message (@code{message-kill-to-signature}).
1116 @findex message-delete-not-region
1117 Delete all text in the body of the message that is outside the region
1118 (@code{message-delete-not-region}).
1122 @findex message-newline-and-reformat
1123 Insert four newlines, and then reformat if inside quoted text.
1128 > This is some quoted text. And here's more quoted text.
1131 If point is before @samp{And} and you press @kbd{M-RET}, you'll get:
1134 > This is some quoted text.
1138 > And here's more quoted text.
1141 @samp{*} says where point will be placed.
1145 @findex message-rename-buffer
1146 Rename the buffer (@code{message-rename-buffer}). If given a prefix,
1147 prompt for a new buffer name.
1152 @vindex message-tab-body-function
1153 If @code{message-tab-body-function} is non-@code{nil}, execute the
1154 function it specifies. Otherwise use the function bound to @kbd{TAB} in
1155 @code{text-mode-map} or @code{global-map}.
1166 @findex message-send-and-exit
1167 Send the message and bury the current buffer
1168 (@code{message-send-and-exit}).
1172 @findex message-send
1173 Send the message (@code{message-send}).
1177 @findex message-dont-send
1178 Bury the message buffer and exit (@code{message-dont-send}).
1182 @findex message-kill-buffer
1183 Kill the message buffer and exit (@code{message-kill-buffer}).
1190 @section Mail Aliases
1191 @cindex mail aliases
1194 @vindex message-mail-alias-type
1195 The @code{message-mail-alias-type} variable controls what type of mail
1196 alias expansion to use. Currently only one form is supported---Message
1197 uses @code{mailabbrev} to handle mail aliases. If this variable is
1198 @code{nil}, no mail alias expansion will be performed.
1200 @code{mailabbrev} works by parsing the @file{/etc/mailrc} and
1201 @file{~/.mailrc} files. These files look like:
1204 alias lmi "Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen <larsi@@ifi.uio.no>"
1205 alias ding "ding@@ifi.uio.no (ding mailing list)"
1208 After adding lines like this to your @file{~/.mailrc} file, you should
1209 be able to just write @samp{lmi} in the @code{To} or @code{Cc} (and so
1210 on) headers and press @kbd{SPC} to expand the alias.
1212 No expansion will be performed upon sending of the message---all
1213 expansions have to be done explicitly.
1219 @findex ispell-message
1221 There are two popular ways to have Emacs spell-check your messages:
1222 @code{ispell} and @code{flyspell}. @code{ispell} is the older and
1223 probably more popular package. You typically first write the message,
1224 and then run the entire thing through @code{ispell} and fix all the
1225 typos. To have this happen automatically when you send a message, put
1226 something like the following in your @file{.emacs} file:
1229 (add-hook 'message-send-hook 'ispell-message)
1232 @vindex ispell-message-dictionary-alist
1233 If you're in the habit of writing in different languages, this can be
1234 controlled by the @code{ispell-message-dictionary-alist} variable:
1237 (setq ispell-message-dictionary-alist
1238 '(("^Newsgroups:.*\\bde\\." . "deutsch8")
1239 (".*" . "default")))
1242 @code{ispell} depends on having the external @samp{ispell} command
1245 The other popular method is using @code{flyspell}. This package checks
1246 your spelling while you're writing, and marks any mis-spelled words in
1249 To use @code{flyspell}, put something like the following in your
1253 (defun my-message-setup-routine ()
1255 (add-hook 'message-setup-hook 'my-message-setup-routine)
1258 @code{flyspell} depends on having the external @samp{ispell} command
1266 * Message Headers:: General message header stuff.
1267 * Mail Headers:: Customizing mail headers.
1268 * Mail Variables:: Other mail variables.
1269 * News Headers:: Customizing news headers.
1270 * News Variables:: Other news variables.
1271 * Insertion Variables:: Customizing how things are inserted.
1272 * Various Message Variables:: Other message variables.
1273 * Sending Variables:: Variables for sending.
1274 * Message Buffers:: How Message names its buffers.
1275 * Message Actions:: Actions to be performed when exiting.
1279 @node Message Headers
1280 @section Message Headers
1282 Message is quite aggressive on the message generation front. It has to
1283 be---it's a combined news and mail agent. To be able to send combined
1284 messages, it has to generate all headers itself (instead of letting the
1285 mail/news system do it) to ensure that mail and news copies of messages
1286 look sufficiently similar.
1290 @item message-generate-headers-first
1291 @vindex message-generate-headers-first
1292 If @code{t}, generate all required headers before starting to
1293 compose the message. This can also be a list of headers to generate:
1296 (setq message-generate-headers-first
1300 @vindex message-required-headers
1301 The variables @code{message-required-headers},
1302 @code{message-required-mail-headers} and
1303 @code{message-required-news-headers} specify which headers are
1306 Note that some headers will be removed and re-generated before posting,
1307 because of the variable @code{message-deletable-headers} (see below).
1309 @item message-draft-headers
1310 @vindex message-draft-headers
1311 When running Message from Gnus, the message buffers are associated
1312 with a draft group. @code{message-draft-headers} says which headers
1313 should be generated when a draft is written to the draft group.
1315 @item message-from-style
1316 @vindex message-from-style
1317 Specifies how @code{From} headers should look. There are four valid
1322 Just the address---@samp{king@@grassland.com}.
1325 @samp{king@@grassland.com (Elvis Parsley)}.
1328 @samp{Elvis Parsley <king@@grassland.com>}.
1331 Look like @code{angles} if that doesn't require quoting, and
1332 @code{parens} if it does. If even @code{parens} requires quoting, use
1333 @code{angles} anyway.
1337 @item message-deletable-headers
1338 @vindex message-deletable-headers
1339 Headers in this list that were previously generated by Message will be
1340 deleted before posting. Let's say you post an article. Then you decide
1341 to post it again to some other group, you naughty boy, so you jump back
1342 to the @code{*post-buf*} buffer, edit the @code{Newsgroups} line, and
1343 ship it off again. By default, this variable makes sure that the old
1344 generated @code{Message-ID} is deleted, and a new one generated. If
1345 this isn't done, the entire empire would probably crumble, anarchy would
1346 prevail, and cats would start walking on two legs and rule the world.
1349 @item message-default-headers
1350 @vindex message-default-headers
1351 This string is inserted at the end of the headers in all message
1354 @item message-subject-re-regexp
1355 @vindex message-subject-re-regexp
1359 Responses to messages have subjects that start with @samp{Re: }. This
1360 is @emph{not} an abbreviation of the English word ``response'', but is
1361 Latin, and means ``in response to''. Some illiterate nincompoops have
1362 failed to grasp this fact, and have ``internationalized'' their software
1363 to use abominations like @samp{Aw: } (``antwort'') or @samp{Sv: }
1364 (``svar'') instead, which is meaningless and evil. However, you may
1365 have to deal with users that use these evil tools, in which case you may
1366 set this variable to a regexp that matches these prefixes. Myself, I
1367 just throw away non-compliant mail.
1369 Here's an example of a value to deal with these headers when
1370 responding to a message:
1373 (setq message-subject-re-regexp
1378 "[Aa][Nn][Tt][Ww]\\.?\\|" ; antw
1380 "[Ff][Ww][Dd]?\\|" ; fwd
1381 "[Oo][Dd][Pp]\\|" ; odp
1383 "[Rr][\311\351][Ff]\\.?\\|" ; ref
1386 "\\(\\[[0-9]*\\]\\)"
1393 @item message-subject-trailing-was-query
1394 @vindex message-subject-trailing-was-query
1395 @vindex message-subject-trailing-was-ask-regexp
1396 @vindex message-subject-trailing-was-regexp
1397 Controls what to do with trailing @samp{(was: <old subject>)} in subject
1398 lines. If @code{nil}, leave the subject unchanged. If it is the symbol
1399 @code{ask}, query the user what do do. In this case, the subject is
1400 matched against @code{message-subject-trailing-was-ask-regexp}. If
1401 @code{message-subject-trailing-was-query} is @code{t}, always strip the
1402 trailing old subject. In this case,
1403 @code{message-subject-trailing-was-regexp} is used.
1405 @item message-alternative-emails
1406 @vindex message-alternative-emails
1407 Regexp matching alternative email addresses. The first address in the
1408 To, Cc or From headers of the original article matching this variable is
1409 used as the From field of outgoing messages, replacing the default From
1412 For example, if you have two secondary email addresses john@@home.net
1413 and john.doe@@work.com and want to use them in the From field when
1414 composing a reply to a message addressed to one of them, you could set
1415 this variable like this:
1418 (setq message-alternative-emails
1419 (regexp-opt '("john@@home.net" "john.doe@@work.com")))
1422 This variable has precedence over posting styles and anything that runs
1423 off @code{message-setup-hook}.
1425 @item message-allow-no-recipients
1426 @vindex message-allow-no-recipients
1427 Specifies what to do when there are no recipients other than
1428 @code{Gcc} or @code{Fcc}. If it is @code{always}, the posting is
1429 allowed. If it is @code{never}, the posting is not allowed. If it is
1430 @code{ask} (the default), you are prompted.
1432 @item message-hidden-headers
1433 @vindex message-hidden-headers
1434 A regexp, a list of regexps, or a list where the first element is
1435 @code{not} and the rest are regexps. It says which headers to keep
1436 hidden when composing a message.
1439 (setq message-hidden-headers
1440 '(not "From" "Subject" "To" "Cc" "Newsgroups"))
1443 Headers are hidden using narrowing, you can use @kbd{M-x widen} to
1444 expose them in the buffer.
1446 @item message-header-synonyms
1447 @vindex message-header-synonyms
1448 A list of lists of header synonyms. E.g., if this list contains a
1449 member list with elements @code{Cc} and @code{To}, then
1450 @code{message-carefully-insert-headers} will not insert a @code{To}
1451 header when the message is already @code{Cc}ed to the recipient.
1457 @section Mail Headers
1460 @item message-required-mail-headers
1461 @vindex message-required-mail-headers
1462 @xref{News Headers}, for the syntax of this variable. It is
1463 @code{(From Date Subject (optional . In-Reply-To) Message-ID Lines
1464 (optional . User-Agent))} by default.
1466 @item message-ignored-mail-headers
1467 @vindex message-ignored-mail-headers
1468 Regexp of headers to be removed before mailing. The default is
1469 @samp{^[GF]cc:\\|^Resent-Fcc:\\|^Xref:\\|^X-Draft-From:}.
1471 @item message-default-mail-headers
1472 @vindex message-default-mail-headers
1473 This string is inserted at the end of the headers in all message
1474 buffers that are initialized as mail.
1476 @item message-generate-hashcash
1477 @vindex message-generate-hashcash
1478 Boolean variable that indicate whether @samp{X-Hashcash} headers
1479 should be computed for the message. @xref{Hashcash, ,Hashcash,gnus,
1485 @node Mail Variables
1486 @section Mail Variables
1489 @item message-send-mail-function
1490 @vindex message-send-mail-function
1491 @findex message-send-mail-with-sendmail
1492 @findex message-send-mail-with-mh
1493 @findex message-send-mail-with-qmail
1494 @findex message-smtpmail-send-it
1495 @findex smtpmail-send-it
1496 @findex feedmail-send-it
1497 Function used to send the current buffer as mail. The default is
1498 @code{message-send-mail-with-sendmail}, or @code{smtpmail-send-it}
1499 according to the system. Other valid values include
1500 @code{message-send-mail-with-mh}, @code{message-send-mail-with-qmail},
1501 @code{message-smtpmail-send-it} and @code{feedmail-send-it}.
1503 @item message-mh-deletable-headers
1504 @vindex message-mh-deletable-headers
1505 Most versions of MH doesn't like being fed messages that contain the
1506 headers in this variable. If this variable is non-@code{nil} (which is
1507 the default), these headers will be removed before mailing when sending
1508 messages via MH. Set it to @code{nil} if your MH can handle these
1511 @item message-qmail-inject-program
1512 @vindex message-qmail-inject-program
1514 Location of the qmail-inject program.
1516 @item message-qmail-inject-args
1517 @vindex message-qmail-inject-args
1518 Arguments passed to qmail-inject programs.
1519 This should be a list of strings, one string for each argument. It
1520 may also be a function.
1522 For e.g., if you wish to set the envelope sender address so that bounces
1523 go to the right place or to deal with listserv's usage of that address, you
1524 might set this variable to @code{'("-f" "you@@some.where")}.
1526 @item message-sendmail-f-is-evil
1527 @vindex message-sendmail-f-is-evil
1529 Non-@code{nil} means don't add @samp{-f username} to the sendmail
1530 command line. Doing so would be even more evil than leaving it out.
1532 @item message-sendmail-envelope-from
1533 @vindex message-sendmail-envelope-from
1534 When @code{message-sendmail-f-is-evil} is @code{nil}, this specifies
1535 the address to use in the @acronym{SMTP} envelope. If it is
1536 @code{nil}, use @code{user-mail-address}. If it is the symbol
1537 @code{header}, use the @samp{From} header of the message.
1539 @item message-mailer-swallows-blank-line
1540 @vindex message-mailer-swallows-blank-line
1541 Set this to non-@code{nil} if the system's mailer runs the header and
1542 body together. (This problem exists on SunOS 4 when sendmail is run
1543 in remote mode.) The value should be an expression to test whether
1544 the problem will actually occur.
1546 @item message-send-mail-partially-limit
1547 @vindex message-send-mail-partially-limit
1548 @cindex split large message
1549 The limitation of messages sent as message/partial. The lower bound
1550 of message size in characters, beyond which the message should be sent
1551 in several parts. If it is @code{nil}, the size is unlimited.
1557 @section News Headers
1559 @vindex message-required-news-headers
1560 @code{message-required-news-headers} a list of header symbols. These
1561 headers will either be automatically generated, or, if that's
1562 impossible, they will be prompted for. The following symbols are valid:
1568 @findex user-full-name
1569 @findex user-mail-address
1570 This required header will be filled out with the result of the
1571 @code{message-make-from} function, which depends on the
1572 @code{message-from-style}, @code{user-full-name},
1573 @code{user-mail-address} variables.
1577 This required header will be prompted for if not present already.
1581 This required header says which newsgroups the article is to be posted
1582 to. If it isn't present already, it will be prompted for.
1585 @cindex organization
1586 @vindex message-user-organization
1587 @vindex message-user-organization-file
1588 This optional header will be filled out depending on the
1589 @code{message-user-organization} variable.
1590 @code{message-user-organization-file} will be used if this variable is
1591 @code{t}. This variable can also be a string (in which case this string
1592 will be used), or it can be a function (which will be called with no
1593 parameters and should return a string to be used).
1597 This optional header will be computed by Message.
1601 @vindex message-user-fqdn
1602 @vindex mail-host-address
1603 @vindex user-mail-address
1606 @cindex i-did-not-set--mail-host-address--so-tickle-me
1607 This required header will be generated by Message. A unique ID will be
1608 created based on the date, time, user name (for the local part) and the
1609 domain part. For the domain part, message will look (in this order) at
1610 @code{message-user-fqdn}, @code{system-name}, @code{mail-host-address}
1611 and @code{message-user-mail-address} (i.e. @code{user-mail-address})
1612 until a probably valid fully qualified domain name (FQDN) was found.
1616 This optional header will be filled out according to the
1617 @code{message-newsreader} local variable.
1620 This optional header is filled out using the @code{Date} and @code{From}
1621 header of the article being replied to.
1625 @vindex message-expires
1626 This extremely optional header will be inserted according to the
1627 @code{message-expires} variable. It is highly deprecated and shouldn't
1628 be used unless you know what you're doing.
1631 @cindex Distribution
1632 @vindex message-distribution-function
1633 This optional header is filled out according to the
1634 @code{message-distribution-function} variable. It is a deprecated and
1635 much misunderstood header.
1639 @vindex message-user-path
1640 This extremely optional header should probably never be used.
1641 However, some @emph{very} old servers require that this header is
1642 present. @code{message-user-path} further controls how this
1643 @code{Path} header is to look. If it is @code{nil}, use the server name
1644 as the leaf node. If it is a string, use the string. If it is neither
1645 a string nor @code{nil}, use the user name only. However, it is highly
1646 unlikely that you should need to fiddle with this variable at all.
1650 @cindex Mime-Version
1651 In addition, you can enter conses into this list. The @sc{car} of this cons
1652 should be a symbol. This symbol's name is the name of the header, and
1653 the @sc{cdr} can either be a string to be entered verbatim as the value of
1654 this header, or it can be a function to be called. This function should
1655 return a string to be inserted. For instance, if you want to insert
1656 @code{Mime-Version: 1.0}, you should enter @code{(Mime-Version . "1.0")}
1657 into the list. If you want to insert a funny quote, you could enter
1658 something like @code{(X-Yow . yow)} into the list. The function
1659 @code{yow} will then be called without any arguments.
1661 If the list contains a cons where the @sc{car} of the cons is
1662 @code{optional}, the @sc{cdr} of this cons will only be inserted if it is
1665 If you want to delete an entry from this list, the following Lisp
1666 snippet might be useful. Adjust accordingly if you want to remove
1670 (setq message-required-news-headers
1671 (delq 'Message-ID message-required-news-headers))
1674 Other variables for customizing outgoing news articles:
1678 @item message-syntax-checks
1679 @vindex message-syntax-checks
1680 Controls what syntax checks should not be performed on outgoing posts.
1681 To disable checking of long signatures, for instance, add
1684 (signature . disabled)
1693 Check the subject for commands.
1696 Insert a new @code{Sender} header if the @code{From} header looks odd.
1697 @item multiple-headers
1698 Check for the existence of multiple equal headers.
1701 Check for the existence of version and sendsys commands.
1703 Check whether the @code{Message-ID} looks ok.
1705 Check whether the @code{From} header seems nice.
1708 Check for too long lines.
1710 Check for invalid characters.
1712 Check for excessive size.
1714 Check whether there is any new text in the messages.
1716 Check the length of the signature.
1719 Check whether the article has an @code{Approved} header, which is
1720 something only moderators should include.
1722 Check whether the article is empty.
1723 @item invisible-text
1724 Check whether there is any invisible text in the buffer.
1726 Check whether any of the headers are empty.
1727 @item existing-newsgroups
1728 Check whether the newsgroups mentioned in the @code{Newsgroups} and
1729 @code{Followup-To} headers exist.
1730 @item valid-newsgroups
1731 Check whether the @code{Newsgroups} and @code{Followup-to} headers
1732 are valid syntactically.
1733 @item repeated-newsgroups
1734 Check whether the @code{Newsgroups} and @code{Followup-to} headers
1735 contains repeated group names.
1736 @item shorten-followup-to
1737 Check whether to add a @code{Followup-to} header to shorten the number
1738 of groups to post to.
1741 All these conditions are checked by default.
1743 @item message-ignored-news-headers
1744 @vindex message-ignored-news-headers
1745 Regexp of headers to be removed before posting. The default is@*
1746 @samp{^NNTP-Posting-Host:\\|^Xref:\\|^[BGF]cc:\\|^Resent-Fcc:\\|^X-Draft-From:}.
1748 @item message-default-news-headers
1749 @vindex message-default-news-headers
1750 This string is inserted at the end of the headers in all message
1751 buffers that are initialized as news.
1756 @node News Variables
1757 @section News Variables
1760 @item message-send-news-function
1761 @vindex message-send-news-function
1762 Function used to send the current buffer as news. The default is
1763 @code{message-send-news}.
1765 @item message-post-method
1766 @vindex message-post-method
1767 Gnusish @dfn{select method} (see the Gnus manual for details) used for
1768 posting a prepared news message.
1773 @node Insertion Variables
1774 @section Insertion Variables
1777 @item message-ignored-cited-headers
1778 @vindex message-ignored-cited-headers
1779 All headers that match this regexp will be removed from yanked
1780 messages. The default is @samp{.}, which means that all headers will be
1783 @item message-cite-prefix-regexp
1784 @vindex message-cite-prefix-regexp
1785 Regexp matching the longest possible citation prefix on a line.
1787 @item message-citation-line-function
1788 @vindex message-citation-line-function
1789 @cindex attribution line
1790 Function called to insert the citation line. The default is
1791 @code{message-insert-citation-line}, which will lead to citation lines
1795 Hallvard B Furuseth <h.b.furuseth@@usit.uio.no> writes:
1798 Point will be at the beginning of the body of the message when this
1801 Note that Gnus provides a feature where clicking on `writes:' hides the
1802 cited text. If you change the citation line too much, readers of your
1803 messages will have to adjust their Gnus, too. See the variable
1804 @code{gnus-cite-attribution-suffix}. @xref{Article Highlighting, ,
1805 Article Highlighting, gnus, The Gnus Manual}, for details.
1807 @item message-yank-prefix
1808 @vindex message-yank-prefix
1811 When you are replying to or following up an article, you normally want
1812 to quote the person you are answering. Inserting quoted text is done by
1813 @dfn{yanking}, and each line you yank will have
1814 @code{message-yank-prefix} prepended to it (except for quoted lines
1815 which use @code{message-yank-cited-prefix} and empty lines which use
1816 @code{message-yank-empty-prefix}). The default is @samp{> }.
1818 @item message-yank-cited-prefix
1819 @vindex message-yank-cited-prefix
1823 When yanking text from an article which contains already cited text,
1824 each line will be prefixed with the contents of this variable. The
1825 default is @samp{>}. See also @code{message-yank-prefix}.
1827 @item message-yank-empty-prefix
1828 @vindex message-yank-empty-prefix
1831 When yanking text from an article, each empty line will be prefixed with
1832 the contents of this variable. The default is @samp{>}. You can set
1833 this variable to an empty string to split the cited text into paragraphs
1834 automatically. See also @code{message-yank-prefix}.
1836 @item message-indentation-spaces
1837 @vindex message-indentation-spaces
1838 Number of spaces to indent yanked messages.
1840 @item message-cite-function
1841 @vindex message-cite-function
1842 @findex message-cite-original
1843 @findex sc-cite-original
1844 @findex message-cite-original-without-signature
1846 Function for citing an original message. The default is
1847 @code{message-cite-original}, which simply inserts the original message
1848 and prepends @samp{> } to each line.
1849 @code{message-cite-original-without-signature} does the same, but elides
1850 the signature. You can also set it to @code{sc-cite-original} to use
1853 @item message-indent-citation-function
1854 @vindex message-indent-citation-function
1855 Function for modifying a citation just inserted in the mail buffer.
1856 This can also be a list of functions. Each function can find the
1857 citation between @code{(point)} and @code{(mark t)}. And each function
1858 should leave point and mark around the citation text as modified.
1860 @item message-mark-insert-begin
1861 @vindex message-mark-insert-begin
1862 String to mark the beginning of some inserted text.
1864 @item message-mark-insert-end
1865 @vindex message-mark-insert-end
1866 String to mark the end of some inserted text.
1868 @item message-signature
1869 @vindex message-signature
1870 String to be inserted at the end of the message buffer. If @code{t}
1871 (which is the default), the @code{message-signature-file} file will be
1872 inserted instead. If a function, the result from the function will be
1873 used instead. If a form, the result from the form will be used instead.
1874 If this variable is @code{nil}, no signature will be inserted at all.
1876 @item message-signature-file
1877 @vindex message-signature-file
1878 File containing the signature to be inserted at the end of the buffer.
1879 The default is @file{~/.signature}.
1881 @item message-signature-insert-empty-line
1882 @vindex message-signature-insert-empty-line
1883 If @code{t} (the default value) an empty line is inserted before the
1884 signature separator.
1888 Note that RFC1036bis says that a signature should be preceded by the three
1889 characters @samp{-- } on a line by themselves. This is to make it
1890 easier for the recipient to automatically recognize and process the
1891 signature. So don't remove those characters, even though you might feel
1892 that they ruin your beautiful design, like, totally.
1894 Also note that no signature should be more than four lines long.
1895 Including @acronym{ASCII} graphics is an efficient way to get
1896 everybody to believe that you are silly and have nothing important to
1900 @node Various Message Variables
1901 @section Various Message Variables
1904 @item message-default-charset
1905 @vindex message-default-charset
1907 Symbol naming a @acronym{MIME} charset. Non-@acronym{ASCII}
1908 characters in messages are assumed to be encoded using this charset.
1909 The default is @code{nil}, which means ask the user. (This variable
1910 is used only on non-@sc{mule} Emacsen. @xref{Charset Translation, ,
1911 Charset Translation, emacs-mime, Emacs MIME Manual}, for details on
1912 the @sc{mule}-to-@acronym{MIME} translation process.
1914 @item message-signature-separator
1915 @vindex message-signature-separator
1916 Regexp matching the signature separator. It is @samp{^-- *$} by
1919 @item mail-header-separator
1920 @vindex mail-header-separator
1921 String used to separate the headers from the body. It is @samp{--text
1922 follows this line--} by default.
1924 @item message-directory
1925 @vindex message-directory
1926 Directory used by many mailey things. The default is @file{~/Mail/}.
1927 All other mail file variables are derived from @code{message-directory}.
1929 @item message-auto-save-directory
1930 @vindex message-auto-save-directory
1931 Directory where Message auto-saves buffers if Gnus isn't running. If
1932 @code{nil}, Message won't auto-save. The default is @file{~/Mail/drafts/}.
1934 @item message-signature-setup-hook
1935 @vindex message-signature-setup-hook
1936 Hook run when initializing the message buffer. It is run after the
1937 headers have been inserted but before the signature has been inserted.
1939 @item message-setup-hook
1940 @vindex message-setup-hook
1941 Hook run as the last thing when the message buffer has been initialized,
1942 but before yanked text is inserted.
1944 @item message-header-setup-hook
1945 @vindex message-header-setup-hook
1946 Hook called narrowed to the headers after initializing the headers.
1948 For instance, if you're running Gnus and wish to insert a
1949 @samp{Mail-Copies-To} header in all your news articles and all messages
1950 you send to mailing lists, you could do something like the following:
1953 (defun my-message-header-setup-hook ()
1954 (let ((group (or gnus-newsgroup-name "")))
1955 (when (or (message-fetch-field "newsgroups")
1956 (gnus-group-find-parameter group 'to-address)
1957 (gnus-group-find-parameter group 'to-list))
1958 (insert "Mail-Copies-To: never\n"))))
1960 (add-hook 'message-header-setup-hook
1961 'my-message-header-setup-hook)
1964 @item message-send-hook
1965 @vindex message-send-hook
1966 Hook run before sending messages.
1968 If you want to add certain headers before sending, you can use the
1969 @code{message-add-header} function in this hook. For instance:
1970 @findex message-add-header
1973 (add-hook 'message-send-hook 'my-message-add-content)
1974 (defun my-message-add-content ()
1975 (message-add-header "X-In-No-Sense: Nonsense")
1976 (message-add-header "X-Whatever: no"))
1979 This function won't add the header if the header is already present.
1981 @item message-send-mail-hook
1982 @vindex message-send-mail-hook
1983 Hook run before sending mail messages. This hook is run very late --
1984 just before the message is actually sent as mail.
1986 @item message-send-news-hook
1987 @vindex message-send-news-hook
1988 Hook run before sending news messages. This hook is run very late --
1989 just before the message is actually sent as news.
1991 @item message-sent-hook
1992 @vindex message-sent-hook
1993 Hook run after sending messages.
1995 @item message-cancel-hook
1996 @vindex message-cancel-hook
1997 Hook run when canceling news articles.
1999 @item message-mode-syntax-table
2000 @vindex message-mode-syntax-table
2001 Syntax table used in message mode buffers.
2003 @item message-cite-articles-with-x-no-archive
2004 @vindex message-cite-articles-with-x-no-archive
2005 If non-@code{nil}, don't strip quoted text from articles that have
2006 @samp{X-No-Archive} set. Even if this variable isn't set, you can
2007 undo the stripping by hitting the @code{undo} keystroke.
2009 @item message-strip-special-text-properties
2010 @vindex message-strip-special-text-properties
2011 Emacs has a number of special text properties which can break message
2012 composing in various ways. If this option is set, message will strip
2013 these properties from the message composition buffer. However, some
2014 packages requires these properties to be present in order to work. If
2015 you use one of these packages, turn this option off, and hope the
2016 message composition doesn't break too bad.
2018 @item message-send-method-alist
2019 @vindex message-send-method-alist
2021 Alist of ways to send outgoing messages. Each element has the form
2024 (@var{type} @var{predicate} @var{function})
2029 A symbol that names the method.
2032 A function called without any parameters to determine whether the
2033 message is a message of type @var{type}.
2036 A function to be called if @var{predicate} returns non-@code{nil}.
2037 @var{function} is called with one parameter---the prefix.
2041 ((news message-news-p message-send-via-news)
2042 (mail message-mail-p message-send-via-mail))
2050 @node Sending Variables
2051 @section Sending Variables
2055 @item message-fcc-handler-function
2056 @vindex message-fcc-handler-function
2057 A function called to save outgoing articles. This function will be
2058 called with the name of the file to store the article in. The default
2059 function is @code{message-output} which saves in Unix mailbox format.
2061 @item message-courtesy-message
2062 @vindex message-courtesy-message
2063 When sending combined messages, this string is inserted at the start of
2064 the mailed copy. If the string contains the format spec @samp{%s}, the
2065 newsgroups the article has been posted to will be inserted there. If
2066 this variable is @code{nil}, no such courtesy message will be added.
2067 The default value is @samp{"The following message is a courtesy copy of
2068 an article\\nthat has been posted to %s as well.\\n\\n"}.
2070 @item message-fcc-externalize-attachments
2071 @vindex message-fcc-externalize-attachments
2072 If @code{nil}, attach files as normal parts in Fcc copies; if it is
2073 non-@code{nil}, attach local files as external parts.
2075 @item message-interactive
2076 @vindex message-interactive
2077 If non-@code{nil} wait for and display errors when sending a message;
2078 if @code{nil} let the mailer mail back a message to report errors.
2083 @node Message Buffers
2084 @section Message Buffers
2086 Message will generate new buffers with unique buffer names when you
2087 request a message buffer. When you send the message, the buffer isn't
2088 normally killed off. Its name is changed and a certain number of old
2089 message buffers are kept alive.
2092 @item message-generate-new-buffers
2093 @vindex message-generate-new-buffers
2094 If non-@code{nil}, generate new buffers. The default is @code{t}. If
2095 this is a function, call that function with three parameters: The type,
2096 the to address and the group name. (Any of these may be @code{nil}.)
2097 The function should return the new buffer name.
2099 @item message-max-buffers
2100 @vindex message-max-buffers
2101 This variable says how many old message buffers to keep. If there are
2102 more message buffers than this, the oldest buffer will be killed. The
2103 default is 10. If this variable is @code{nil}, no old message buffers
2104 will ever be killed.
2106 @item message-send-rename-function
2107 @vindex message-send-rename-function
2108 After sending a message, the buffer is renamed from, for instance,
2109 @samp{*reply to Lars*} to @samp{*sent reply to Lars*}. If you don't
2110 like this, set this variable to a function that renames the buffer in a
2111 manner you like. If you don't want to rename the buffer at all, you can
2115 (setq message-send-rename-function 'ignore)
2118 @item message-kill-buffer-on-exit
2119 @findex message-kill-buffer-on-exit
2120 If non-@code{nil}, kill the buffer immediately on exit.
2125 @node Message Actions
2126 @section Message Actions
2128 When Message is being used from a news/mail reader, the reader is likely
2129 to want to perform some task after the message has been sent. Perhaps
2130 return to the previous window configuration or mark an article as
2133 @vindex message-kill-actions
2134 @vindex message-postpone-actions
2135 @vindex message-exit-actions
2136 @vindex message-send-actions
2137 The user may exit from the message buffer in various ways. The most
2138 common is @kbd{C-c C-c}, which sends the message and exits. Other
2139 possibilities are @kbd{C-c C-s} which just sends the message, @kbd{C-c
2140 C-d} which postpones the message editing and buries the message buffer,
2141 and @kbd{C-c C-k} which kills the message buffer. Each of these actions
2142 have lists associated with them that contains actions to be executed:
2143 @code{message-send-actions}, @code{message-exit-actions},
2144 @code{message-postpone-actions}, and @code{message-kill-actions}.
2146 Message provides a function to interface with these lists:
2147 @code{message-add-action}. The first parameter is the action to be
2148 added, and the rest of the arguments are which lists to add this action
2149 to. Here's an example from Gnus:
2153 `(set-window-configuration ,(current-window-configuration))
2154 'exit 'postpone 'kill)
2157 This restores the Gnus window configuration when the message buffer is
2158 killed, postponed or exited.
2160 An @dfn{action} can be either: a normal function, or a list where the
2161 @sc{car} is a function and the @sc{cdr} is the list of arguments, or
2162 a form to be @code{eval}ed.
2166 @chapter Compatibility
2167 @cindex compatibility
2169 Message uses virtually only its own variables---older @code{mail-}
2170 variables aren't consulted. To force Message to take those variables
2171 into account, you can put the following in your @file{.emacs} file:
2174 (require 'messcompat)
2177 This will initialize many Message variables from the values in the
2178 corresponding mail variables.
2185 * Responses:: Standard rules for determining where responses go.
2192 To determine where a message is to go, the following algorithm is used
2197 A @dfn{reply} is when you want to respond @emph{just} to the person who
2198 sent the message via mail. There will only be one recipient. To
2199 determine who the recipient will be, the following headers are
2210 A @dfn{wide reply} is a mail response that includes @emph{all} entities
2211 mentioned in the message you are responded to. All mailboxes from the
2212 following headers will be concatenated to form the outgoing
2213 @code{To}/@code{Cc} headers:
2217 (unless there's a @code{Reply-To}, in which case that is used instead).
2224 If a @code{Mail-Copies-To} header is present, it will also be included
2225 in the list of mailboxes. If this header is @samp{never}, that means
2226 that the @code{From} (or @code{Reply-To}) mailbox will be suppressed.
2230 A @dfn{followup} is a response sent via news. The following headers
2231 (listed in order of precedence) determine where the response is to be
2242 If a @code{Mail-Copies-To} header is present, it will be used as the
2243 basis of the new @code{Cc} header, except if this header is
2265 arch-tag: 16ab76af-a281-4e34-aed6-5624569f7601